User context based distributed self service system for service enhanced resource delivery

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a method and system of providing user context-based services over computer networks, using mechanisms for collecting and specifying one or more user context elements, each element representing a context associated with the current buyer state and having context attributes and attribute values associated therewith, mechanisms for collecting affective (emotive) data to inform the user context, and also an interactive graphical view to gain insight into available services for assisting in understanding available service information and making decisions on purchasing.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of copending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/388,277, filed on Mar. 13, 2003, the entire content anddisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention is related to subject matter disclosed in thefollowing patent applications, the disclosures of which are hereinincorporated by reference in their entireties.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/778,146, filed Feb. 7, 2001, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,701,311, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE SYSTEM FOR RESOURCE SEARCHAND SELECTION.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/778,136, filed Feb. 7, 2001 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,778,193, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE ICONIC INTERFACE FOR PORTALENTRY AND SEARCH SPECIFICATION.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/778,147, filed Feb. 7, 2001 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,693,651, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE ICONIC INTERFACE FOR RESOURCESEARCH RESULTS DISPLAY AND SELECTION.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/778,378, filed Feb. 7, 2001 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,853,998, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE SUBSYSTEM FOR CLASSIFYING USERCONTEXTS.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/778,135, filed Feb. 7, 2001 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,643,639, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE SUBSYSTEM FOR ADAPTIVE INDEXINGOF RESOURCE SOLUTIONS AND RESOURCE LOOKUP.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/779,139, filed Feb. 7, 2001 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,785,676, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE SUBSYSTEM FOR RESPONSE SETORDERING AND ANNOTATION.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/778,149, filed Feb. 7, 2001 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,873,990, for CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE SUBSYSTEM FOR CONTEXT CLUSTERDISCOVERY AND VALIDATION.

Patent application Ser. No. 09/723,236, filed Nov. 28, 2000, for “METHODAND VISUAL INTERFACE FOR EVALUATING MULTI-ATTRIBUTE BIDS IN A NETWORKENVIRONMENT.”

Patent application Ser. No. 09/800,664, filed Mar. 8, 2001 now U.S.Patent Publication No. 2002/0065762, for “METHOD AND VISUAL INTERFACEFOR EVALUATING MULTI-ATTRIBUTE BIDS IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to the composition (creation),execution (delivery), and monitoring (measurement) of context-based,customized service bundles over computer networks. More specifically,this invention relates to user context based distributed self servicesystem with decision support capabilities.

2. Background Art

Prior systems for service purchase decision support and delivery,including those multi-attribute systems for purchasing support, make useof available simple historical and current user data and demographicdata, and/or extensive profiles completed by the user to providepersonalization. They do not, however, develop user contexts based onadaptive algorithms and supervised and unsupervised learningsub-processes and do not include the use of affective data. Priorsystems also do not support the real time configuration, comparison andselection of service packages, do not make use of visual decisionsupport tools and do not provide for the real time management of theservices bundle during execution.

Current systems generally focus on purchase decision support and aredeveloped for a single domain such as a telephone system or car radioand the functionalities and interfaces learned by the user cannot begeneralized to similar services purchase and execution tasks in otherdomains. Some of the systems have been developed specifically for pushfunctionality and use a specific type of interaction with the user suchas interactive questioning via an expert system.

Other systems which make use of Bayesian Network data mining techniquesmake use of adaptive algorithms and supervised learning but do not makeuse of the variety of historical, contextual and affective data and donot apply the predictive models to purchasing decision support invarious domains.

Web usage mining tools analyze web traffic and sales data for twopurposes: (1) system and network performance analysis (for performanceoptimization), and (2) marketing and merchandising (product assortment,web design, cross-sells, and up-sells, email promotion, portaladvertisements, referral services). Web mining tools are used tocategorize and segment users and to provide personalized services tousers and collaborative filtering is widely used by retailers.

Other systems use dynamic pricing but provide only forward (sellerinitiated) auctions as opposed to reverse (buyer initiated) auctions.Other systems using auctions for dynamic pricing do not allow auctionsbased on a bundling of services from different providers.

While OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) capabilities built on top ofrelational database management systems provide decision supportcapabilities including multi-dimensional data models (also known as starschema) and exploratory analysis capability through pivot roll-up, anddrill-down operations for different dimensions, they, along with visualdecision support tools, do not provide extensive capabilities of theAbsolute tool. They do not provide confirmatory analysis, what-ifanalysis, and iterative, undirected exploratory analysis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide a pull system (as opposed to apush system where information/services are sent to users/buyers withoutprior consulting) that allows buyers of bundled services in a givenservice domain to easily search for, identify, fine tune, and comparerelevant offerings without filling out profiles.

Another object of the invention is to allow buyers to proposealternative service bundling to be considered dynamically by serviceproviders via a reverse auction process with buyer specified auctionparameters including reserve prices and close times.

A further object of the present invention is to allow buyers todynamically manage the services mix during delivery based on changes inrelevancy and price, and to save and reuse successful service bundles astemplates for future buying decisions.

An object of this invention is to allow service providers to easilymeasure business effectiveness and to identify opportunities forchanging prices, increasing capacity or agreeing to bundle offeringswith other service providers to improve overall business effectivenesswithout having to develop and maintain buyer segmentation data.

A further object of this invention is to allow confirmatory analysis,what-if analysis, and iterative, undirected exploratory analysis.

Those and other objectives are attained with a method and system ofproviding user context-based services over computer networks, usingmechanisms for collecting and specifying one or more user contextelements, each element representing a context associated with thecurrent buyer state and having context attributes and attribute valuesassociated therewith, mechanisms for collecting affective (emotive) datato inform the user context, and also an interactive graphical view togain insight into available services for assisting in understandingavailable service information and making decisions on purchasing.

The preferred embodiment of the invention, described below in detail,provides a number of important advantages because it learns over timeand from all buyers without burdening them with completing extensiveprofiles. The system makes use of extensive user data from historical,contextual and affective sources. This invention provides an end-to-endsolution which covers the spectrum of pull activities from purchasedecision support through service delivery, provides the buyer with achoice of intuitive interfaces including a graphical interface withvisualization for decision support, or an interactive natural languageinterface. With the permission of individual buyers, the system can beused by service providers to push offers of relevant services packagesto buyers. The system is applicable to a variety of service domainswhich minimizes the learning curve for buyers.

Such a self service system for service enhanced resource delivery isapplicable to a variety of service domains including, but not limitedto, travel, financial services, real estate and education.

Further benefits and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the following detailed description, given withreference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferredembodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the generic process steps of the servicebuyer's interaction with the self service system for service enhancedresource delivery through various graphical interfaces.

FIG. 2 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the PersonalService Area in Desktop Workspace.

FIG. 3 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserOverview Workspace.

FIG. 4 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for theHistorical Service Display Workspace.

FIG. 5 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserAffective Data Management Workspace.

FIG. 6 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserContext Selection Workspace.

FIG. 7 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserDetail Specification Workspace.

FIG. 8 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the BuyerNegotiations/Auction Workspace.

FIG. 9 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserResults Display Workspace showing user-defined selection criteria formultiple bundled service candidates.

FIG. 10 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserResults Display Workspace showing selection of additional serviceenhancers.

FIG. 11 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserResults Display Workspace showing the comparisons of two servicebundles.

FIG. 12 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserService Enhancers Management Workspace.

FIG. 13 illustrates the iconic graphical user interface for the UserServices Management Workspace.

FIG. 14 provides examples of data elements from the travel servicesdomain, given example user interactions with the self service system forservice enhanced resource delivery via the graphical interfaces.

FIG. 15 provides examples of data elements from the education servicesdomain, given example user interactions with the self service system forservice enhanced resource delivery via the graphical interfaces.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the generic process steps of the serviceprovider's interaction with the self service system for service enhancedresource delivery through various graphical interfaces.

FIG. 17 illustrates the “Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling,Measurements and Evaluation.”

FIG. 18 shows the iconic graphical user interface for the “ProviderNegotiations/Auction Workspace.”

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention, generally, provides a user context baseddistributed self service system for service enhanced resource delivery.The invention makes use of one or more user context elements, eachelement representing a context associated with the current buyer stateand having context attributes and attribute values associated therewith.This invention enables buyer specification of relevant service selectioncriteria for enabling expression of relevance of service results interms of user context, searches a services database, and generates aservices response set having services that best match a buyer's query,user context attributes and user defined relevant services selectioncriteria. The services response sets are presented to the buyer in amanner where the relevance of each of the service bundles is expressedin terms of user context in a manner optimized to facilitate servicebundle selection, and enables continued buyer selection and modificationof user context attribute values to enable increased specificity andaccuracy of a buyer's query to thereby result in improved selectionlogic and attainment of service bundles best fitted to the query.Adaptive algorithms and supervised and unsupervised learningsub-processes are implemented to enable the self service system forservice enhanced resource delivery to learn from each and all buyers andto make that learning operationally benefit all buyers and providersover time.

This invention also preferably uses mechanisms for collecting affective(emotive) data to inform the user context to aid in the buyer'sselection and fine tuning of relevant service bundles as well as changesin service configurations during delivery. This data is collected andused with the buyer's permission and guidance. This affective data mayinclude changes in facial expressions, voice and body temperature. Also,this invention preferably uses electronic agent mechanisms for automatedor semi-automated negotiations and auctions to change the pricing ofspecific service bundles for identified user context classificationsbased on an automated analysis of user interaction records or inresponse to new service bundles proposed by buyers or providers.

This invention also makes use of a support tool called Absolute whichwas developed for procurement managers. In this invention, the tool isused for the comparison of service bundles. This tool enables a buyer toselect two or more bundles to be visually compared side by side, rankedby their merit on buyer defined relevant services selection criteria,and fine tuned interactively to visually convey the impact of changes inthe configuration of a services bundle on the services selectioncriteria. This tool enables a buyer to compare previously purchasedservice bundles to select the best bundle to use as a template for theselection of future service bundles.

The Absolute support tool provides a confirmatory analysis capabilitywhen working with a multi-attribute decision support mechanism (i.e.,the traditional additive model based algorithm for scoring and rankingmulti-attribute objects). That is, the scoring algorithm createshypotheses, i.e., scores and rankings of services, and the buyer canconfirm the result by using the intuitive visualization of the tool.Sometimes, the tool even detects and shows facts hidden or not shown inthe scoring mechanism.

The Absolute support tool also allows what-if analysis for determiningattribute weights for the multi-attribute scoring mechanism. Weightelicitation is the most difficult (because trade-offs among attributesis hard to understand) and important part of any multi-attribute scoringalgorithms. In this tool, the buyer can change the weight of one or moreattributes in any way and see the effect in the changed visualizationand also in the changed scores/rankings, which helps understand andimprove the weight determination.

Another difference between other visual decision support tools and theAbsolute support tool as used in this invention is that Absolute alsoenables iterative, undirected, exploratory analysis. For example, thebuyer can create hypotheses about multi-attribute services by simplyexploring various parts of the visualization or using the similaritysearch feature. Those hypotheses may be confirmed by using an augmentedquantitative analysis mechanism such as the scoring mechanism.

The self service system, and the interaction of the system through theiconic interfaces of the invention, will be described with respect toexample domains such as travel and education and will be furtherdescribed from the point of view of the following users: a traveler anda learner. In describing the user's interaction with the system throughthe iconic interfaces, the following set of data elements are used inthe system: User Affective Data, Previous Service packages, User Query,User Context, Context Attribute, Resource Attribute Value, ValueResource Parameters, Combined Primary Service and Service EnhancersCriteria Values, Service Enhancers, and Service Enhancer Choices.

FIG. 1 depicts alternative paths through the ten graphical userinterfaces available to the service buyer as part of the end to endsolution covering the spectrum of pull activities from purchase decisionsupport throughout service delivery. In the first process step, thebuyer uses the “Personal Service Area in Desktop Workspace” 20 (shown inFIG. 2) to select the relevant service domain and access the “UserOverview Workspace” 30 (as shown in FIG. 3) where a two dimensional plotincludes one data point representing each service enhanced resourcedelivery over the past several years plotted against the user's ownsatisfaction rating at the conclusion of delivery. The data points arecoded to distinguish the different domains in which the user haspurchased and executed service enhanced resource delivery—i.e. travel,real estate, investment and education. The User Overview Workspaceenables the user to recall if they had previously used and rated aservice enhanced resource delivery in the past and if the rating wassufficiently good to cause them to want to use the previous servicepackage as a template for a current service enhanced resource deliveryneed in the same domain.

If the user had previously used and rated as acceptable more than oneservice enhanced resource delivery in the same domain and wishes tocompare these packages based on combined primary service and serviceenhancer criteria values to identify which previously used package iscloses to the current domain need, they can mouse over to read the namesthey assigned at the time of use and select several by clicking. Theuser then accesses the “Historical Service Display Workspace” 40 (shownin FIG. 4) to visually compare the selected previously purchased servicebundles. Users can reuse a successful services bundle as a template forfuture buying decisions. If the user had previously used and rated asacceptable a single service enhanced resource delivery they can selectit as a template and bypass the “Historical Service Display Workspace.”

The user then accesses the “User Affective Data Management Workspace” 50shown in FIG. 5, where they select the types of affective data aboutthem to be collected, the relative weighting to give each type of data,and the actions authorized based on changes in the data. This data willbe used to inform the user context to aid in the buyer's selection andfine tuning of relevant service bundles as well as to inform the usercontext to aid in recommending changes in service configurations duringservice delivery. If the user chooses to bypass this workspace, noaffective data will be collected.

The user then accesses the “User Context Selection Workspace” 60 asshown in FIG. 6. The system presents a set of user contexts as icons andwill suggest one over the others, but the user may select the one mostappropriate to their current situation. The icons presented in thisinterface each represent a packaging of attribute-value pairs whichdescribe a kind of user in a particular situation. The user then entersa query and will initiate a lookup.

The user then proceeds to the “User Detail Specification Workspace” 70(FIG. 7), if they want to refine/override search variables included inthe selected user context, or they proceed to the “User Results DisplayWorkspace” 90 (FIG. 9) for viewing the search results response set. Ifthey proceed to the “User Detail Specification Workspace” (FIG. 7), theuser is able to fine tune or override context attribute values, valueresource parameters, and combined primary service and service enhancerscriteria and value ranges using a drag and drop interface, iconicpulldowns, and/or slide buttons. The user may return to this screen asmany times as needed to find a suitable response set. Particularly, theuser context selected on the “User Context Selection Workspace” 60 (FIG.6) has been made explicit by its default settings on all the iconicinterface elements listed.

Alternatively, from the “User Specification Workspace” (FIG. 7) the usercan initiate a reverse auction process 80 (FIG. 8) for new servicespackages developed in real time in response to the criteria andconditions specified by the current settings on the User DetailSpecification Workspace (FIG. 7) rather than limiting themselves tosearching preexisting services packages.

When the user proceeds to the “User Results Display Workspace” 90 (FIG.9), they can visualize N and explore the response set that the systemhas found to best match the user's initial query and related subject andcontext variables. This workspace enables the user to continue to learnabout the service bundles suggested, select additional service enhancersto add to the bundles, as illustrated at 100 (FIG. 10), and directlycompare two alternative service bundles, as illustrated at 110 (FIG.11), using the Absolute interface, including the option to performconfirmatory analysis, what if analysis and iterative, undirectedexploratory analysis of alternative services bundles prior to making afinal selection.

FIG. 12 shows the “User Service Enhancers Management Workspace” 120which enables users to dynamically manage the services mix duringdelivery based on changes in relevancy and price and to save and reusesuccessful services or entire service bundles as templates for futurebuying decisions. If the primary service being delivered is electronicin nature (such as an e-learning course vs. a physical service such asan airline flight, FIG. 13 shows at 130 the workspace in which theelectronic service is delivered. The minimized Current Services icon andAvailable Services icon enable the user to access the correspondinggraphical user interfaces as shown in FIG. 12.

As shown at 160 in FIG. 16, the system includes two iconic interfacesfor use by service providers. FIG. 17 shows at 170 the “ProviderWorkspace for Pricing, Bundling, Measurements and Evaluation” whereservice providers can set one or more objectives of the effectivenessmeasurement, select one or more of the contexts of the current useramong the given alternatives, and plan and execute the bundling ofservice enhancers with the selected primary service. For businesseffectiveness measurement, the system provides one or more basicrelevant metrics which the provider can configure the system for. Inaddition, the provider can define one or more new metrics, and alsoderive metrics by combining one or more existing measures.

Once a user context is selected for the current user, the provider canview a service enhancer combination page for the selected user context.This page shows all the available service enhancers (along theirinformation such as price and capacity) for the selected primaryservice. The provider can plan for a bundled service by combining one ormore service enhancers presented in this page and see the effect(changes) on the total service price and on the previously selectedbusiness effectiveness measures. This page also provides recommendationsand guidelines for pricing and bundling of services. The provider canuser this workspace before the primary services is actually started forpreparing a service package, and also after the primary service isstarted for adding or changing the given service package in real-time.

FIG. 18 shows at 180 the iconic interface for the “ProviderNegotiations/Auction Workspace” which can be used for service buyers andproviders to negotiate deals on services by using one or more forms ofauctions and using computer networks and software programs. Auctions canbe initiated by either service providers or buyers. An auction which isinitiated by a service provider for selling one or more services iscalled a forward auction. In contrast, an auction which is initiated bya buyer for purchasing one or more services is called a reverse auction.This Figure will be considered to present a forward auction. As thefirst step, the initiator of an auction, i.e., a service provider,designs the auction by using the auction design template which isprovided by a computer network access software program such as a Webbrowser. In this form, the auction initiator specifies basic informationabout the auction such as name, type, the primary service and serviceenhancers to be purchased, and basic rules on the auction.

Once the auction is defined and launched in a computer network programby a buyer, service providers who are previously registered for thecomputer network program and granted for using the program can reviewthe detail information of the auction, and also, if they wish,participate in the auction by submitting one or more bids to theauction. In the meantime, the auction initiator, i.e., the buyer canmonitor the status of his/her auction while it is accepting bids fromproviders. When the auction closes, the auction program decides one ormore winning bids among the submitted bids based on a certain predefinedcriterion, such as price or other attributes of the bids.

With respect to the travel domain, the user is a traveler and FIG. 14depicts an example interaction with the customer self service systemthrough the iconic interfaces (FIG. 1) included in the embodiment of theinvention as applied to the travel domain.

The ten iconic workspaces of FIG. 1 enable a traveler to specify dataelements, such as the example data elements depicted in FIG. 14, andview results, as follows:

Access to Summary Plot Covering Prior Packages Used in Different Domains

In the first process step, the traveler uses the Personal Service Areain Desktop Workspace (FIG. 2) to access the User Overview Workspace(FIG. 3) where a two dimensional plot includes one data pointrepresenting each service enhanced resource delivery over the pastseveral years plotted against the user's own satisfaction rating at theconclusion of delivery. The data points are color coded to distinguishthe different domains in which the user has purchased and executedservice enhanced resource delivery—i.e. travel, real estate, investmentand education. The purpose of the User Overview Workspace is to enablethe traveler to recall if they had previously used and rated a serviceenhanced travel resource delivery in the past and if the rating wassufficiently good to cause them to want to use the previous servicepackage as a template for a current travel service need, although theactual destination of the current trip and the time of the year, asexpressed in the query, might differ from that of the previous servicepackage.

-   A. Case where No Prior Acceptable Travel Package is Available for    Use as a Model for Current Need

1. Identification of Affective Data Inputs and Uses (optional)

If the traveler has not previously used and rated a service enhancedtravel resource delivery or the previous ratings were not consideredacceptable, the traveler may elect to go directly to the User AffectiveData Management Workspace (FIG. 5), where they select the types ofaffective data about them to be collected, the relative weighting togive each type of data, and the actions authorized based on changes inthe data. This data will be used to inform the user context to aid inthe buyer's selection and fine tuning of relevant service bundles aswell as to inform the user context to aid in recommending changes inservice configurations during service delivery. If the user chooses tobypass this workspace, no affective data will be collected. In thisexample, as shown in FIG. 14, the traveler elects to give equal weightto changes in voice characteristic and palm sweat and to have the selfservice system for service enhanced resource delivery recommend realtime changes during the selection as well as execution of serviceenhanced travel resources as will be shown later.

2. Specify Current Query and User Context

Regardless of whether or not the traveler has elected to includeaffective data in their service enhanced resource selection andexecution decisions, the traveler who has elected not to use apreviously saved and rated service enhanced resource delivery proceedsto the User Context Selection Workspace (FIG. 6) to specify their querysuch as “Plan a trip to Vermont in June” for example. The traveler maythen select the User Context Icon “Single Mom with kids,” for example,from among the available user context icons (where the icon's name ishighlighted in FIG. 14). The traveler may then elect to go to the UserDetail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7) in order to view the contextattributes associated with the “Single Mom with Kids” user context.Alternatively, the traveler can select the User Context Icon “Single Momwith kids,” specify their query “Plan a trip to Vermont in June,” andinitiate the Search, in which case they will be taken directly to theUser Results Display Workspace (FIG. 9).

-   B. Case Where Acceptable Prior Travel Package(s) are Available for    Use as Model(s) for Current Need-   B1. Single Prior Package Selected for Use as a Model for Current    Need (Includes Previous Affective Data Selections so No Need to    Explicitly go to the User Affective Data Management Workspace)

If the traveler had previously used and rated a service enhanced travelresource delivery, as shown on the User Overview Workspace (FIG. 3), andwishes to use the prior services bundle as the basis for a currenttravel service need, they can mouse over the relevant data pointrepresenting the previously used service, i.e. 6/2000 trip to Maine asshown on FIG. 14, select it, and then click on the “User DetailSpecification” button to go directly to the User Detail SpecificationWorkspace (FIG. 7). At this workspace the user can fine tune or overridethe prior service bundle's context attribute values (those associatedwith a Single Mom with Kids context selected for the previous resourcedelivery), selected value resource parameters, and combined primaryservice and service enhancers criteria using a drag and drop interface,iconic pulldowns, and/or slide buttons. Alternatively, the traveler mayelect at any time to go to the User Affective Data Management Workspace(FIG. 5), where they can modify previously selected types of affectivedata about them to be collected, the relative weighting to give eachtype of data, and the actions authorized based on changes in the data.This updated data will be used to inform the user context to aid in thebuyer's current selection and fine tuning of relevant service bundles aswell as to inform the user context to aid in recommending changes inservice configurations during service delivery and the current selectionis finalized.

-   B2. Several Prior Packages are Identified and Compared so One can be    Selected for Use as a Model for Current Need.

If the traveler had previously used and rated more than one serviceenhanced travel resource delivery as shown on the User OverviewWorkspace (FIG. 3) and wishes to compare these packages based oncombined primary service and service enhancer criteria values toidentify which previously used package is closest to the current travelneed, they can mouse over the most highly rated previously used packagesto read the names they assigned at the time of use and select one ormore before clicking on the link to go to the Historical Service DisplayWorkspace (FIG. 4). In this example, the traveler selects the applicableservice domain tab, Travel, to select and visually compare thepreviously selected purchased travel service bundles, i.e. 3/2001 tripto Vermont, 6/2000 trip to Maine and 4/1999 trip to Colorado as shown inFIG. 14 which are listed in descending order of satisfaction as ratedpreviously by the traveler.

Alternatively, the traveler can make the selections for detailedanalysis on the Historical Service Display Workspace once the traveldomain tab is selected and all previously used travel service packagesare displayed in descending order of user satisfaction. The travelerselects one or more of the packages for a visual comparison by clickingon the Graph button, and the user also has the option of seeing atextual description of the service packages by clicking on the “SelectedResources and Service Enhancement Detail” button. The traveler canconnect the data points representing the service enhancer criteriavalues for a given package by mousing over any of the data points. Byclicking on any of the data points, the services package is selected foruse as a model for the current travel need and the traveler is taken tothe User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7). At this workspace, theuser can fine tune or override the selected prior serviceconfiguration's context attribute values (such as those associated witha Single Mom with Kids context selected for the previous resourcedelivery), value resource parameters, and combined primary service andservice enhancers criteria using a drag and drop interface, iconicpulldowns, and/or slide buttons.

Alternatively, the traveler may elect at any time to go to the UserAffective Data Management Workspace (FIG. 5) where they can modifypreviously selected types of affective data about them to be collected,the relative weighting to give each type of data, and the actionsauthorized based on changes in the data. This updated data will be usedto inform the user context to aid in the buyer's current selection andfine tuning of relevant service bundles as well as to inform the usercontext to aid in recommending changes in service configurations duringservice delivery, and the current selection is finalized.

The traveler may return to the User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG.7) as many times as needed to find a suitable response set.Particularly, the user context selected on the “User Context SelectionWorkspace (FIG. 6) or included when the previous service package used asa model was selected, has been made explicit by its default settings onall the iconic interface elements listed.

How the traveler uses the Detail Specification Workspaces to fMe tune.

Staying with the travel services example, the three context attributesfor the Single Mom with kids context would be Mode of Transportation,Mode of Housing, Food Style and Mode of Transportation, as indicated inFIG. 14. Preferably, the default assigned context attribute value(“Drive,” for example) for any context attribute (“Mode ofTransportation,” for example) is visible on the context attribute icon(“Mode of Transportation,” for example, whose name is shown highlightedin FIG. 14 and which is represented by Context Attribute 3 on FIG. 7).In addition, the traveler may click on the context attribute (“Mode ofTransportation,” to stay with the example) to display a pull down menuto view the other values (in either picture or word format) that couldbe assigned to this attribute (“Fly,” for example). The traveler selects“fly” as an alternative to “drive,” as illustrated in FIG. 14. By“overriding” this attribute value and double clicking on it, the list ofValue Resource parameters (include/exclude filters) for the attributevalue “Fly” is displayed (as represented on FIG. 7 by Value ResourceParameters for Context Attribute 3, Value 2). The traveler may indicatethat he/she wants to include all major carriers and exclude prop planesand airlines with bad safety records when searching for relevant servicebundles. The traveler may also specify resource priorities by selecting,sequencing and weighting and specifying minimum and maximum values forrelevant criteria such as overall cost, primary service cost, duration,timing, quality and risk on the Combined Primary Service and ServiceEnhancers Criteria Values graphical user interface element on the DetailSpecification Workspace.

How a traveler uses the Buyer Negotiations/Auction Workspace to receivebids from travel service providers.

Once the traveler specified the details of the selection criteria forthe service (combined primary service and service enhancers) of interestin the User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7), s/he can retrievezero or more available services meeting the specified criteria via twomethods. One is by searching catalogs of services published in thenetwork (e.g., Internet), and the other is by executing one or moreauctions over the network. Catalogs of services are often published bytravel providers in the network with packages of services with theircomponents and attribute values fixed. A click on the “search” button inthe User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7) returns a collection ofservice packages from those catalogs that meet the selection criteria,and displays them in the User Results Display Workspace (FIG. 9).

Alternatively, a click on the “auction” button in the User DetailSpecification Workspace (FIG. 7) starts an auction process that allowsthe traveler and provider to negotiate on service packages. Instead ofusing catalogs of services with fixed values, providers can make bids onthe submitted selection criteria with service packages that do not havepre-set price or any other attribute values. The process starts with the“Auction Design” by the traveler. In this step, the auction form (FIG.8) is created by using the values passed from the User DetailSpecification Workspace (FIG. 7). Also, the traveler specifies valuesfor certain attributes related to auction management, e.g., start time,close time, reserve price. Once the auction form is created, thetraveler launches the auction by clicking on the “Auction Launch” buttonin the workspace.

Once the auction is launched in the network, the traveler and travelproviders can view the auction request in the workspace, and submit oneor more bids. User of the auction workspace, i.e., travelers and travelproviders (potential bidders) can review the information on auctionslaunched in this site in the “Auction Status” workspace. If desired, atraveler or a travel provider can review detail information on anauction, e.g., the number of submitted bids and their details, in the“Auction Detail” workspace. Providers, i.e., bidders may want to usethis information before and after making their bids. Also, the traveler(the auction launcher) may want to review this information to check itsstatus. After some time, when the auction close criterion is met (e.g.,the close time specified in the “Auction Design” workspace), the auctionengine parses all the submitted bids and decided on one or more winningbids among them. If the winning bids are multiple or if the travelerdesires, they may be displayed in the User Results Display Workspace(FIG. 9) for further review.

The traveler may return as many times as necessary to select a differentuser context (Swinging Single, for example) on the User ContextSelection Workspace before proceeding with a Search. They can alsoinitiate a reverse auction process for new services packages developedin real time in response to the criteria and conditions specified by thecurrent settings on the User Detail Specification Workspace rather thanlimiting themselves to searching for preexisting services packages.

How the traveler uses the Results Display Workspace to compare packages,enhance them and make a final selection.

If the traveler decides to initiate a search for preexisting servicespackages, they are taken to the User Results Display Workspaces (FIGS.9, 10, and 11), where they can visualize and explore the servicepackages response set that the system has found to best match thetraveler's initial query and related subject and context variables.These workspaces enable the buyer to continue to learn about the travelservices bundles suggested (FIG. 9), to select additional serviceenhancers to add to the travel service bundles (FIG. 10) and to directlycompare two alternative service bundles using the Absolute graphicaluser interface, where they have the option to perform confirmatoryanalysis, what if analysis and iterative, undirected exploratoryanalysis of alternative service bundles prior to making a finalselection. With more particularity, the traveler selects three (nos. 1,4 and 7) from among the seven travel services packages returned by theSearch for the purpose of visually comparing them by their scores on theCombined Service and Service Enhancers Criteria Values selected on theUser Detail Specification Workspace. The buyer then mouses over Package4 and clicks on “Selected Resource and Service Enhancement Detail” todisplay a list of included service enhancers as shown on FIG. 10. Thetraveler decides to save two tentative solutions based on Package 4, oneincluding all four available service enhancers and one with only two, asshown on FIG. 11. The four included service enhancers would be Beverage,Music, Electronic games and Electronic mail as shown on FIG. 14. Foreach, the traveler would select a service enhancer choice and thendirectly compare the two alternative service solutions from theperspective of their Combined Primary Service and Service EnhancersCriteria Values as shown on FIG. 11.

If no acceptable travel services bundles were provided, the traveler mayreturn to the Context Selection Workspace to redefine their query orselect a different user context such as “Swinging Singles.” The travelermay also elect to return to the Detail Specification Workspace to changethe default value of the context attribute “Mode of Transportation” fromFly to Train and add or remove Value Resource Parameters for theattribute value Train or other context attribute values associated withcontext attributes such as “Mode of Housing” or “Food Style.” Thetraveler may also change their combined primary service enhancersselection criteria, the weighting of the selection criteria, and theminimum/maximum values for any selection criteria, in hopes ofidentifying additional relevant resources.

Once the traveler has selected a travel services bundle by doubleclicking on any data point on the graph of that travel service bundle onthe User Results Display Workspace, they are taken to the User ServiceEnhancers Management Workspace (FIG. 12) if the execution of the travelservices bundle is to begin immediately, or they are returned to it atthe point in the future when they are actually taking the trip.

During the execution of their travel package, the traveler manages theirmix of current service enhancers and has access to additional potentialservice enhancers by using the User Service Enhancers ManagementWorkspace (FIG. 12).

At any time during the execution of the current services the travelercan terminate their execution by clicking on the “Drop Now” button orextend them beyond their scheduled end time by entering a new time inthe Extend column. The traveler can also indicate that they want theservice enhancer included when they access this saved travel packagefrom the User Overview Workspace (FIG. 3) or Historical Service DisplayWorkspace (FIG. 4) for purposes of using it as a template for a futuretravel need.

If some new relevant service enhancers, for example movies, becomeavailable during the execution of the travel package due to changes inprice or availability of the service enhancers or due to changes in thetraveler's affective data, the Refresh button on FIG. 12 will flash,giving the traveler the option to click on it to have the list ofavailable services updated. If the traveler then decides to add aservice enhancer, they click in the Select Now column and then on thebutton “Execute the selected Service Enhancers.” Alternatively, they canelect to include this new service enhancer during their next trip and itwill be saved as part of the travel package.

In the example of travel, the primary resource is a physical resource(i.e. flight) but some or all of the service enhancers can be deliveredelectronically. In that case, the traveler clicks on the button “UserExecution Workspace Icon” on the User Service Enhancers ManagementWorkspace (FIG. 12) to be taken to the User Services ManagementWorkspace (FIG. 13), where the electronic service enhancers (i.e. emailand electronic games as indicated in FIG. 14) are delivered. At any timethe traveler can review their current services by clicking on theCurrent Services Icon and review available service enhancers by clickingon the Available Services Icon as indicated on FIG. 13. Both of theseicons will flash to alert the traveler to conditions such as a currentservice ending or the availability of additional service enhancers.

How a travel provider uses the Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling,and Measurements Evaluation to manage service information.

The Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling and Measurements Evaluation(FIG. 17) is where a travel provider can manage and control the detailexecution of the business, by setting one or more parameters forbusiness effectiveness measurement, selecting one or more user contexts,setting values for detail attributes of services and service enhancersfor the selected user context, and selecting criteria for pricing andbundling guidelines. In this console, the travel provider can reviewdetails of services and service enhancers provided to each user context.For each service or service enhancer, the travel provider canreview/modify the values of various attributes, including the unitprice, effective metric, capacity, bundling partners, and recommendationschemes.

How a travel provider uses the Provider Negotiations/Auction Workspaceto receive bids on component services from its suppliers

The task of a travel provider is aggregating (bundling) one or moreservices and service enhancers from various suppliers, managing theinformation on those collected services and service enhancers by usingthe Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling, and Measurement Evaluationworkspace (FIG. 17), and selling the service package by using catalogpublication or auctions. Travel providers employ the ProviderNegotiation/Auction Workspace (FIG. 18) for performing the last task,i.e., bundling one or more services and service enhancers from varioussuppliers, by using auctions. This process starts with the “AuctionDesign.” The travel provider brings up an auction form template andfills out the template to create a new auction. The auction formrequires the specification of some attributes related to the auctionmanagement, e.g., start and close time, and reserve price. For creatingbundled services by aggregating primary services and various serviceenhancers, the travel provider usually creates an auction that procuresmultiple services/products at a tinne, instead of one service/product ata time. Such auctions are often referred to as “bundle auction” or“combinatorial auction.” Once the auction form is created, the travelprovider launches the auction by clicking on the “Auction Launch” buttonin the workspace.

Once the auction is launched in the network, the travel provider (theowner of the auction) and its suppliers (potential bidders) can view theauction request in the workspace, and suppliers can submit one or morebids to it. Users of this auction workspace, i.e., traveler providersand their suppliers (potential bidders) can review the information onauctions launched in this site in the “Auction Status” workspace. Ifdesired, a traveler provider or a supplier can review detail informationon an auction, e.g., the number of submitted bids and their details, inthe “Auction Detail” workspace. Suppliers, i.e., bidders may want to usethis information before and after making their bids. Also, the travelprovider (the auction owner) may want to review this information tocheck its status. After some time, when the auction close criterion ismet (e.g., the close time specified in the “Auction Design” workspace),the auction engine parses all the submitted bids and decides on one ormore winning bids among them. The suppliers of the winning bids willhave contracts with the travel provider, and the services and serviceenhancers of the winning bids will be recorded and managed in theProvider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling, Measurements Evaluation (FIG.17).

With respect to the education domain, the user is a learner and FIG. 15depicts an example interaction with the customer self service systemthrough the iconic interfaces (FIG. 1) included in the embodiment of theinvention as applied to the education domain. The ten iconic workspacesof FIG. 1 enable a learner to specify data elements, such as the exampledata elements depicted in the Education Services column 2 of FIG. 15,and view results, as follows:

The ten ionic interfaces of FIG. 1 enable a learner to specify dataelements, such as the example data elements depicted in FIG. 15, andview results, as follows.

Access to Summary Plot Covering Prior Packages Used in Different Domains

In the first process step, the learner uses the Personal Service Area inDesktop Workspace (FIG. 2) to access the User Overview Workspace (FIG.3) where a two dimensional plot includes one data point representingeach service enhanced resource delivery over the past several yearsplotted against the user's own satisfaction rating at the conclusion ofdelivery. The data points are coded to distinguish the different domainsin which the user has purchased and executed service enhanced resourcedelivery—i.e. travel, real estate, investment and education. The purposeof the User Overview Workspace is to enable the learner to recall ifthey had previously used and rated a service enhanced education resourcedelivery in the past and if the rating was sufficiently good to causethem to want to use the previous service package as a template for acurrent education service need, although the actual education goal andlearning conditions, as expressed in the query, might differ from thatof the previous education service package.

-   A. Case where No Prior Acceptable Education Package is Available for    Use as a Model for Current Need

1. Identification of Affective Data Inputs and Uses (Optional)

If the learner has not previously used and rated a service enhancededucation resource delivery or the previous ratings were not consideredacceptable, the learner may elect to go directly to the User AffectiveData Management Workspace (FIG. 5), where they select the types ofaffective data about them to be collected, the relative weighting togive each type of data, and the actions authorized based on changes inthe data. This data will be used to inform the user context to aid inthe buyer's selection and fine tuning of relevant service bundles aswell as to inform the user context to aid in recommending changes inservice configurations during service delivery. If the user chooses tobypass this workspace no affective data will be collected. In thisexample, as shown in FIG. 15, the learner elects to give equal weight tochanges in voice characteristic and palm sweat and to have the selfservice system for service enhanced resource delivery recommend realtime changes during the selection as well as execution of serviceenhanced education resources as will be shown later.

2. Specify Current Query and User Context

Regardless of whether or not the learner has elected to includeaffective data in their service enhanced resource selection andexecution decisions, the learner who has elected not to use a previouslysaved and rated service enhanced education resource delivery proceeds tothe User Context Selection Workspace (FIG. 6) to specify their querysuch as “Learn Linux development by distance learning” for example. Thelearner may then select the User Context Icon “Traveling Consultant,”for example, from among the available user context icons (where theicon's name is highlighted in FIG. 15). The learner may then elect to goto the User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7) in order to view thecontext attributes associated with the “Traveling Consultant” usercontext. Alternatively, the learner can select the User Context Icon“Traveling Consultant”, specify their query “Learn Linux development bydistance learning”, and initiate the Search, in which case they will betaken directly to the User Results Display Workspace (FIG. 9).

-   B. Case where Acceptable Prior Education Package(s) are Available    for Use as Model(s) for Current Need-   B1. Single Prior Package Selected for Use as a Model for Current    Need (Includes Previous Affective Data Selections so No Need to    Explicitly go to the User Affective Data Management Workspace)

If the learner had previously used and rated a service enhancededucation resource delivery, as shown on the User Overview Workspace(FIG. 3), and wishes to use the prior services bundle as the basis for acurrent education service need, they can mouse over the relevant datapoint representing the previously used service, i.e. Learn stereo designby distance learning, as shown on FIG. 15, select it, and then click onthe “User Detail Specification” button to go directly to the User DetailSpecification Workspace (FIG. 7). At this workspace, the user can finetune or override the prior service bundle's context attribute values(those associated with a Traveling Consultant context selected for theprevious resource delivery), selected value resource parameters, andcombined primary service and service enhancers criteria using a drag anddrop interface, iconic pulldowns, and/or slide buttons. Alternatively,the learner may elect at any time to go to the User Affective DataManagement Workspace (FIG. 5), where they can modify previously selectedtypes of affective data about them to be collected, the relativeweighting to give each type of data, and the actions authorized based onchanges in the data. This updated data will be used to inform the usercontext to aid in the buyer's current selection and fine tuning ofrelevant service bundles as well as to inform the user context to aid inrecommending changes in service configurations during service deliveryand the current selection is finalized.

-   B2. Several Prior Packages are Identified and Compared so One can be    Selected for Use as a Model for Current Need.

If the learner had previously used and rated more than one serviceenhanced education resource delivery as shown on the User OverviewWorkspace (FIG. 3) and wishes to compare these packages based oncombined primary service and service enhancer criteria values toidentify which previously used package is closest to the currenteducation need, they can mouse over the most highly rated previouslyused packages to read the names they assigned at the time of use andselect one or more before clicking on the link to go to the HistoricalService Display Workspace (FIG. 4). In this example, the travelerselects the applicable service domain tab, Education, to select andvisually compare the previously selected purchased education servicebundles, i.e. learn stereo design by distance learning, learn C++ byself study, and learn Java by taking classes as shown in FIG. 15 whichare listed in descending order of satisfaction as rated previously bythe learner.

Alternatively, the learner can make the selections for detailed analysison the Historical Service Display Workspace once the education domaintab is selected and all previously used education service packages aredisplayed in descending order of user satisfaction. The learner selectsone or more of the packages for a visual comparison by clicking on theGraph button, and the user also has the option of seeing a textualdescription of the service packages by clicking on the “SelectedResources and Service Enhancement Detail” button. The learner canconnect the data points representing the service enhancer criteriavalues for a given package by mousing over any of the data points. Byclicking on any of the data points, the services package is selected foruse as a model for the current education need and the learner is takento the User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7). At this Workspace,the user can fine tune or override the selected prior serviceconfiguration's context attribute values (such as those associated witha Traveling Consultant context selected for the previous resourcedelivery), value resource parameters, and combined primary service andservice enhancers criteria using a drag and drop interface, iconicpulldowns, and/or slide buttons.

Alternatively, the learner may elect at any time to go to the UserAffective Data Management Workspace (FIG. 5) where they can modifypreviously selected types of affective data about them to be collected,the relative weighting to give each type of data, and the actionsauthorized based on changes in the data. This updated data will be usedto inform the user context to aid in the buyer's current selection andfine tuning of relevant service bundles as well as to inform the usercontext to aid in recommending changes in service configurations duringservice delivery, and the current selection is finalized.

The learner may return to the User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG.7) as many times as needed to find a suitable response set.Particularly, the user context selected on the “User Context SelectionWorkspace (FIG. 6) or included when the previous service package used asa model was selected, has been made explicit by its default settings onall the iconic interface elements listed.

How the learner uses the Detail Specification Workspaces to fine tune.

Staying with the education services example, the three contextattributes for the Traveling Consultant context would be Connectivity,Mentoring Method, and Self Study Method, as indicated in FIG. 15.Preferably, the default assigned context attribute value (“Email,” forexample) for any context attribute (“Mentoring Method,” for example) isvisible on the context attribute icon (“Mentoring Method,” for example,whose name is shown in FIG. 15 and which is represented by ContextAttribute 3 on FIG. 7). In addition, the learner may click on thecontext attribute (“Mentoring Method,” to stay with the example) todisplay a pull down menu to view the other values (in either picture orword format) that could be assigned to this attribute (“Text Chat,” forexample). The learner selects “Text Chat” as an alternative to “Email,”as illustrated with highlighting in FIG. 15. By “overriding” thisattribute value and double clicking on it, the list of Value Resourceparameters (include/exclude filters) for the attribute value “Text Chat”is displayed (as represented on FIG. 7 by Value Resource Parameters forContext Attribute 3, Value 2). The learner may indicate that he/shewants to include all licensed Linux education providers and excludementors without business experience and mentors with poor qualityratings when searching for relevant service bundles. The learner mayalso specify resource priorities by selecting, sequencing and weightingand specifying minimum and maximum values for relevant criteria such asoverall cost, primary service cost, duration, timing, quality and riskon the Combined Primary Service and Service Enhancers Criteria Valuesgraphical user interface element on the Detail Specification Workspace.

How a learner uses the Buyer Negotiation/Auction Workspace to receivebids from education service providers.

Once the learner specified the details of the selection criteria for theservice (combined primary service and service enhancers) of interest inthe User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7), s/he can retrieve zeroor more available services meeting the specified criteria via twomethods. One is by searching catalogs of services published in thenetwork (e.g., Internet), and the other is by executing one or moreauctions over the network. Catalogs of services are often published byeducation providers in the network with packages of services with theircomponents and attribute values fixed. A click on the “search” button inthe User Detail Specification Workspace (FIG. 7) returns a collection ofservice packages from those catalogs that meet the selection criteria,and displays them in the User Results Display Workspace (FIG. 9).

Alternatively, a click on the “auction” button in the User DetailSpecification Workspace (FIG. 7) starts an auction process that allowsthe learner and provider to negotiate on service packages. Instead ofusing catalogs of services with fixed values, providers can make bids onthe submitted selection criteria with service packages that do not havepre-set price or any other attribute values. The process starts with the“Auction Design” by the learner. In this step, the auction form (FIG. 8)is created by using the values passed from the User Detail SpecificationWorkspace (FIG. 7). Also, the learner specifies values for certainattributes related to auction management, e.g., start time, close time,reserve price. Once the auction form is created, the learner launchesthe auction by clicking on the “Auction Launch” button in the workspace.

Once the auction is launched in the network, the learner and educationproviders can view the auction request in the workspace, and submit oneor more bids. User of the auction workspace, i.e., learners andeducation providers (potential bidders) can review the information onauctions launched in this site in the “Auction Status” workspace. Ifdesired, a learner or an education provider can review detailinformation on an auction, e.g., the number of submitted bids and theirdetails, in the “Auction Detail” workspace. Providers, i.e., bidders maywant to use this information before and after making their bids. Also,the learner (the auction launcher) may want to review this informationto check its status. After some time, when the auction close criterionis met (e.g., the close time specified in the “Auction Deign”workspace), the auction engine parses all the submitted bids and decidedon one or more winning bids among them. If the winring bids are multipleor if the learner desires, they may be displayed in the User ResultsDisplay Workspace (FIG. 9) for further review.

The learner may return as many times as necessary to select a differentuser context (Commuting Techie, for example) on the User ContextSelection Workspace before proceeding with a Search. They can alsoinitiate a reverse auction process for new services packages developedin real time in response to the criteria and conditions specified by thecurrent settings on the User Detail Specification Workspace rather thanlimiting themselves to searching for preexisting services packages.

How learner uses the Results Display Workspace to compare packages,enhance them and make a final selection.

If the learner decides to initiate a search for preexisting servicespackages, they are taken to the User Results Display Workspaces (FIGS.9, 10, and 11) where they can visualize and explore the service packagesresponse set that the system has found to best match the learner'sinitial query and related subject and context variables. Theseworkspaces enable the buyer to continue to learn about the educationservices bundles suggested (FIG. 9), to select additional serviceenhancers to add to the education service bundles (FIG. 10) and todirectly compare two alternative service bundles using the Absolutegraphical user interface, where they have the option to performconfirmatory analysis, what if analysis and iterative, undirectedexploratory analysis of alternative service bundles prior to making afinal selection. With more particularity, the learner selects three(nos. 1, 4 and 7) from among the seven education services packagesreturned by the Search for the purpose of visually comparing them bytheir scores on the Combined Service and Service Enhancers CriteriaValues selected on the User Detail Specification Workspace. The buyerthen mouses over Package 4 and clicks on “Selected Resource and ServiceEnhancement Detail” to display a list of included service enhancers asshown on FIG. 10. The learner decides to save two tentative solutionsbased on Package 4, one including all four available service enhancersand one with only two, as shown on FIG. 11. The four included serviceenhancers would be Real time technical terms glossary, Webconferencingfor screen sharing, Webcam to see mentor, and Transcript summarizer asshown on FIG. 15. For each, the learner would select a service enhancerchoice (Sametime for Webconferencing for screen sharing, for example)and then directly compare the two alternative service solutions from theperspective of their Combined Primary Service and Service EnhancersCriteria Values as shown on FIG. 11.

If no acceptable education services bundles were provided, the learnermay return to the Context Selection Workspace to redefine their query orselect a different user context such as “Commuting Techie.” The learnermay also elect to return to the Detail Specification Workspace to changethe default value of the context attribute “Mentoring Method” from TextChat to Phone and to add or remove Value Resource Parameters for theattribute value Phone or other context attribute values associated withcontext attributes such as “Connectivity” or “Self Study Method.” Thelearner may also change their combined primary service enhancersselection criteria, the weighting of the selection criteria, and theminimum/maximum values for any selection criteria, in hopes ofidentifying additional relevant resources.

Once the learner has selected an education services bundle by doubleclicking on any data point on the graph of that education service bundleon the User Results Display Workspace they are taken to the User ServiceEnhancers Management Workspace (FIG. 12) if the execution of theeducation services bundle is to begin immediately, or the are returnedto it at the point in the future when they are actually beginning theeducation.

During the execution of their education package the learner managestheir mix of current service enhancers and has access to additionalpotential service enhancers by using the User Service EnhancersManagement Workspace (FIG. 12).

At any time during the execution of the current services the learner canterminate their execution by clicking on the “Drop Now” button or extendthem beyond their scheduled end time by entering a new time in theExtend column. The learner can also indicate that they want the serviceenhancer included when they access this saved education package from theUser Overview Workspace (FIG. 3) or Historical Service Display Workspace(FIG. 4) for purposes of using the it as a template for a futureeducation need.

If some new relevant service enhancers, for example the ability toswitch to a different language in text chat with automated translationso the learner can use their native language instead of English, becomeavailable during the execution of the education package due to changesin price or availability of the service enhancers or due to changes inthe learner's affective data, the Refresh button on FIG. 12 will flash,giving the learner the option to click on it to have the list ofavailable services updated. If the learner then decides to add a serviceenhancer they click in the Select Now column and then on the button“Execute the selected Service Enhancers.” Alternatively, they can electto include this new service enhancer during their next educationexperience and it will be saved as part of the education package.

In the example of education the primary resource may or may not be aphysical resource (i.e. computer based training on Linux) and some orall of the service enhancers can be delivered electronically. In thatcase, the learner clicks on the button “User Execution Workspace Icon”on the User Service Enhancers Management Workspace (FIG. 12) to be takento the User Services Management Workspace (FIG. 13) where the electronicservice enhancers (i.e. transcript summarizer and web conferencing asindicated in FIG. 15) are delivered along with the primary resource ifit is in electronic form. At any time the learner can review theircurrent services by clicking on the Current Services Icon and reviewavailable service enhancers by clicking on the Available Services Iconas indicated on FIG. 13. Both of these icons will flash to alert thelearner to conditions such as a current service ending or theavailability of additional service enhancers.”

How an education provider uses the Provider Workspace for Pricing,Bundling, and Measurements Evaluation to manage service information.

“The Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling and MeasurementsEvaluation (FIG. 17) is workspace is the provider console where aneducation provider can manage and control the detail execution of thebusiness, by setting one or more parameters for business effectivenessmeasurement, selecting one or more user contexts, setting values fordetail attributes of services and service enhancers for the selecteduser context, and selecting criteria for pricing and bundlingguidelines. In this console, the education provider can review detailsof services and service enhancers provided to each user context. Foreach service or service enhancer, the education provider canreview/modify the values of various attributes, including the unitprice, effective metric, capacity, bundling partners, and recommendationschemes.

How an education provider uses the Provider Negotiations/AuctionWorkspace to receive bids on component services from its suppliers.

The task of an education provider is aggregating (bundling) one or moreservices and service enhancers from various suppliers, managing theinformation on those collected services and service enhancers by usingthe Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling, and Measurement Evaluationworkspace (FIG. 17), and selling the service package by using catalogpublication or auctions. Education providers employ the ProviderNegotiation/Auction Workspace (FIG. 18) for performing the last task,i.e., bundling one or more services and service enhancers from varioussuppliers, by using auctions. This process starts with the “AuctionDesign.” The education provider brings up an auction form template andfills out the template to create a new auction. The auction formrequires the specification of some attributes related to the auctionmanagement, e.g., start and close time, and reserve price. For creatingbundled services by aggregating primary services and various serviceenhancers, the education provider usually creates an auction thatprocures multiple services/products at a time, instead of oneservice/product at a time. Such auctions are often referred to as“bundle auction” or “combinatorial auction.” Once the auction form iscreated, the education provider launches the auction by clicking on the“Auction Launch” button in the workspace.

Once the auction is launched in the network, the education provider (theowner of the auction) and its suppliers potential bidders) can view theauction request in the workspace, and suppliers can submit one or morebids to it. User of this auction workspace, i.e., education providersand their suppliers (potential bidders) can review the information onauctions launched in this site in the “Auction Status” workspace. Ifdesired, an education provider or a supplier can review detailinformation on an auction, e.g., the number of submitted bids and theirdetails, in the “Auction Detail” workspace. Suppliers, i.e., bidders maywant to use this information before and after making their bids. Also,the education provider (the auction owner) may want to review thisinformation to check its status. After some time, when the auction closecriterion is met (e.g., the close time specified in the “Auction Design”workspace), the auction engine parses all the submitted bids and decidedon one or more winning bids among them. The suppliers of the winningbids will have contracts with the education provider, and the servicesand service enhancers of the winning bids will be recorded and managedin the Provider Workspace for Pricing, Bundling, Measurements Evaluation(FIG. 17).

While it is apparent that the invention herein disclosed is wellcalculated to fulfill the objects stated above, it will be appreciatedthat numerous modifications and embodiments may be devised by thoseskilled in the art, and it is intended that the appended claims coverall such modifications and embodiments as fall within the true spiritand scope of the present invention.

1. A self service system for composing, delivering and monitoringcontent-based, service enhanced customized service bundles, the systemcomprising: a computer system including one or more processing units toimplement a service enhanced resource delivery program for buyers toselect service choices, said computer system being configured for: usingaffective or emotive data to assist the buyers in said service choices,including receiving from each of the buyers input identifying a buyercontext for said each buyer and selecting types of affective or emotivedata about said each buyer, relative weights to give to the selectedtypes of data, and actions authorized based on changes in the data; foreach of the buyers, using said affective and emotive data and saidrelative weights in an adaptive algorithm to determine a plurality ofservice response sets for the buyer, each of the service response setsincluding a bundle of services for said each buyer; providing said eachof the buyers with the plurality of the service response sets; andidentifying a relevance of each of said service response sets in termsof the buyer context of said each buyer to facilitate said each buyerselecting one of the service response sets for purchase; using saidaffective or emotive data to inform the identified buyer context of saideach buyer to aid in said each buyer selecting and fine tuning of theservice response sets; receiving from each of the buyers input changingthe weight given to one or more of the selected types of data; andshowing to said each of the buyers the effect on the plurality of theservice response sets of changing the weight given to said one or moreof the selected types of data.
 2. A self service system according toclaim 1, wherein the affective or emotive data is used to assist buyersduring their selection and fine tuning of identified, relevant servicebundles.
 3. A self service system according to claim 1, wherein theaffective (emotive) data is used to assist buyers in responding torecommended changes in service configurations during delivery of theselected service choices.
 4. A self service system, according to claim1, wherein the computer system includes a graphical user interface (GUI)to enable the buyers to select the types of data about them to becollected, the relative weighting to give each type of data, and theactions authorized based on changes in the data.
 5. A self servicesystem for composing, delivering and monitoring content-based, serviceenhanced customized service bundles, the system comprising: a computersystem including one or more processing units to implement a serviceenhanced resource delivery program for configuring service responsesets, each of the service response sets including a bundle of servicesfor said each buyer, said computer system being configured for: enablingservice providers to use combinatorial auctions to configure saidservice response sets, including enabling each of a plurality ofsuppliers to view an auction request from a service requestor and tosubmit one or more bids to the service requestor, the service requestorinitiating a reverse auction process for a new service package developedin real time in response to criteria and conditions specified on a userdetail specification workspace, said criteria and conditions includingaffective and emotive data identified by the user, and relative weightsidentified by the user to give to the affective and emotive data;receiving from the service requestor input changing the relativeweights; and showing to the service requestor the effect on the serviceresponse sets of changing the weights given to the affective and emotivedata.
 6. A self service system according to claim 5, wherein thecomputer system includes a graphical user interface (GUI) to enable theservice providers to respond to reverse, buyer initiated auctionsincluding proposals for the bundling of services from differentproviders.
 7. A self service system according to claim 5, furthercomprising a network connection for connecting said computer system tothe Internet, and wherein said network connection and the Internet areused to make real time recommendations to buyers.
 8. A self-servicemethod for composing, delivering and monitoring content-based, serviceenhanced customized service bundles, the method using a computer systemimplementing a service enhanced delivery program, and the methodcomprising the steps of: receiving, by using the computer system, from abuyer a query for a service and one or more user context elements, eachcontext element representing a context associated with a current stateof the buyer and having context attributes and attribute valuesassociated therewith, said receiving step including the step ofreceiving from the buyer input specifying relevant service selectioncriteria for expression of relevance of service results in terms of theuser context element from the buyer, said criteria including affectiveand emotive data identified by the buyer and relative weights identifiedby the buyer for said data; using said affective and emotive data andsaid relative weights, by using the computer system, in an adaptivealgorithm to determine a plurality of service response sets for thebuyer, each of the service response sets including a bundle of servicesfor said each buyer; providing the buyer, by using the computer system,with the plurality of service response sets having services that matchthe buyer's query, the user context attributes and user defined relevantservice selection criteria; presenting the service response sets to thebuyer, including expressing a relevance of each of the service responsesets in terms of the user context attribute values to facilitate saideach buyer selecting one of the service response sets for purchase andto enable increased specificity and accuracy of the query from thebuyer, receiving from the buyer input changing the weights assigned tothe service selection criteria, and showing to the buyer the effect onthe plurality of the service response sets of changing said weightsgiven to said one or more of the selected types of data.
 9. A tangibleprogram storage device readable by a computer system, tangibly embodyinga program of instructions executable by the computer system to performmethod steps for a self-service system for comprising, delivering andmonitoring content-based, service enhanced customized service bundles,said method steps comprising: receiving from a buyer a query for aservice and one or more user context elements, each context elementrepresenting a context associated with a current of the buyer state andhaving context attributes and attribute values associated therewith,including using the computer system to receive said query; receivingfrom the buyer input specifying relevant service selection criteria forexpression of relevance of service results in terms of user context,said criteria including affective and emotive data identified by thebuyer and relative weights identified by the buyer for said data; usingsaid affective and emotive data and said relative weights in an adaptivealgorithm to determine a plurality of service response sets for thebuyer, each of the service response sets including a bundle of servicesfor said each buyer, including using the computer system to determinethe plurality of service response sets; providing the buyer with theplurality of service response sets having services that match thebuyer's query, the user context attributes and user defined relevantservice selection criteria, including using the computer system todetermine the plurality of service response sets; presenting the serviceresponse sets to the buyer, including expressing a relevance of each ofthe service response sets in terms of the user context attribute valuesto facilitate said each buyer selecting one of the service response setsfor purchase and to enable increased specificity and accuracy of thequery from the buyer, and including using the computer system to presentthe service response sets to the buyer; receiving from the buyer inputchanging the weights assigned to the service selection criteria, andshowing to the buyer the effect on the plurality of the service responsesets of changing said weights given to said one or more of the selectedtypes of data.
 10. The self service system according to claim 1, whereinthe computer system is further configured for each of the usersselecting additional service enhancers to add to the service responsesets provided to said each of the users, directly comparing two of theservice response sets.
 11. The self service system according to claim10, wherein: a service provider views a service enhancer combinationpage for a selected user context, said page showing available serviceenhancers for a selected primary service; and the service providercombines a plurality of the service enhancers presented in said page tosee the effect on previously selected business effectiveness measures.12. The self service system according to claim 1, wherein: the computersystem shows a two-dimensional plot including one data pointrepresenting each service enhanced resource delivery provided to thebuyer over a time period plotted against the buyer's own satisfactionrating of said each service enhanced resource delivery; the serviceenhanced resource deliveries are in different domains; said data pointsare coded to distinguish the different domains in which the buyer haspurchased and executed service enhanced resource delivery; the computersystem receives input from the buyer comparing previously purchasedservice bundles to select one of said previously purchased servicebundles as a best bundle to use as a template for selection of futureservice bundles; and the computer system receives input from the buyerchanging context attribute values, value resource parameters, andcombined primary service and service enhancers criteria to obtain adesired response set.
 13. The method according to claim 8, furthercomprising, ranking the sets of service responses based on the serviceselection criteria received from the buyer; and wherein: the changingthe weights assigned to the service selection criteria causes therankings of the sets of service responses to change; and the showing tothe buyer the effect on the service response sets of changing saidweights includes showing to the buyer the changes of the rankings of thesets of service responses caused by the changing the weights assigned tothe service selection criteria.
 14. The method according to claim 8further comprising; the buyer selecting two or more of the bundles ofservices, visually comparing said two or more bundles side-by-side, andranking each of said two or more bundles based on the service selectioncriteria, and to fine tune interactively said two or more bundles toconvey visually an impact of changes in a configuration of one of thebundles on the service selection criteria; each of the selected bundleshaving one or more of a set of defined service enhances; the buyerexecuting one of the bundle of services; and during said executing oneof the bundles of services, said buyer managing said one of the bundleof services by adding to said one of the bundles one of the set ofdefined service enhancers, and by removing from said one of the bundlesand then one of the set of defined service enhancers.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, wherein; the buyer had previously purchased aplurality of defined service bundles; and the method further comprisesthe buyer selecting one of the purchased service bundles as a template,and using said template to select one of the set of service responsesets for purchase.